Okay so do you want to see the future?

It arrived at my apartment in this mailer tube.

The future comes from Minnesota.

Stratasys is a company that makes rapid prototyping machines. A rapid prototyping machine is like an inkjet printer that prints layers of plastic into 3D objects.

It's solid white ABS plastic, the same thing Legos are made out of. It has planetary gears. The entire assembly was printed at once. Empty space was filled with a second material that dissolves in a bath after printing.

There are no fasteners or joints.

This is the future. In less than 10 years we will have 3D printers in our apartments and houses. We will download files for household objects and print them when we need them. Anybody who wants to design an object can do it without too much difficulty and virtually no money. Open source 3D design software already exists. Objects will become the new digital music. Variety will explode. If color and material are limited to white plastic, everything will be about form. Our objects will have not just fit our hands, they will caress them and tell stories with texture and shape. Your bedside lamp will be your new iTunes playlist.

Here we go!